In Order to Let Someone Walk Into the Future
by Birdboy
Summary: A lighthearted interpretation of Ayumu and Hiyono's meeting set immediately after the epilogue concludes. Mangaverse. Ayuhiyo.


"_In order to make hope not go away_

_in order to let someone walk into the future_

_in order to not let the darkness change the vibrations of the music_

_I pray for your blessing_

_Please... for the rest of eternity."_

"I didn't write that with lyrics." Ayumu complained. "And you haven't even heard this song before. How did you sing that?"

"Just the spur of the moment, I guess." Hiyono said with a smile.

"You're lying. It fit the music too well. You sneaked in and read them, didn't you?"

"Give me a little more credit than that! I bribed my contact at this hospital to photocopy your notation while you were sleeping and fax them to me. I spent my whole flight to Japan coming up with them!"

Ayumu had to smile at that. "Hey, did I ever tell you how I realized you weren't who you claimed to be... fake Hiyono-chan?"

"No. And don't call me fake Hiyono!" She pouted. "Just Hiyono will do..."

"I had it figured it out soon after we met. I didn't know that you were working for Kiyotaka, back then, let alone what your mission was... but c'mon. You picked the right club for a cover story, but no high school journalism student is nearly as skilled at gathering information as you are."

She smiled, then laughed. "Well tell me, clever detective Narumi-san... have you figured out what I've been up to these past two years? And I'm not done, either; I'll have to go at noon. The final piece isn't in place yet... but I can visit you like this anyway, because I know I'll pull this off."

"You're leaving so soon? What's so important as to take you from a dying man's bedside."

"Nothing's that important. I'm leaving because you're not going to die. Haven't you figured it out yet, Narumi-san?"

Ayumu was far more elated than he let on by this news. "Sorry. _Presumably_ fatal illnesses do a number on my detective work."

"You just want to hear it from my mouth."

"Yes." Ayumu admitted.

"Fine, fine." The girl once named Yuizaki Hiyono said, and began to explain. "Human cloning is a controversial subject, and because of the crimes many of the Blade Children have committed, the whole group has been stigmatized as inherently criminal. Even though they're dying young, many doctors refused to have anything to do with finding a cure for them, and even your brother couldn't convince them otherwise... until I showed up. I'm good at persuasion."

"Persuasion?" Ayumu asked, though he knew her well enough to have a fairly clear idea what she meant.

"Blackmail, assassination threats, calling in favors. The usual. I rounded up specialists across Europe for the experiments on Hizumi, and I made sure every bit of that data was scrutinized by scientists around the world." The girl who had spent many years as Hiyono knelt down at Ayumu's bedside and pulled out another ring this time, of identical make to the earring in color and form, but modified to fit around the ring finger, and with a small transmitter giving a remarkable resemblance to a diamond in the center. "You're going to make a full recovery. We'll keep in touch with this ring, until then. And when you do, will you join me?"

"What mission do you want my help on, this time? I hope it's more ethical than your mission last time we teamed up."

"That's no way to react to your beloved assistant becoming so overwhelmed by seeing you again that she proposes marriage!"

"You said join." Ayumu answered. "And I don't think you forgot the word for marry in this language. You're trying to rope me into something, aren't you?"

"You figured me out."

"What mission is it this time?"

That's classified information. Unless you join me." She smiled. "But it won't be like last time. We're going to save the world all over again... if you agree to help me, because even I can't do everything alone."

"I do. On one condition. Your name."

Hiyono smiled in that moment more than since before the final confrontation with Kiyotaka, then threw her arms around Ayumu and kissed him. "Then it's official. As for my name... I suppose it's Narumi Hiyono, going forward."

"That doesn't count." Ayumu retorted.

Hiyono revealed a legal identification card from her pocket, already printed with that name. "I changed it last night."

"Fine, you win." He said with a smile. "I love you."

"I love you too."


End file.
